What do buyers and sellers need to know about our Phoenix real estate market?
On the buyer front, there were 111,000 new listings added to the Phoenix MLS in 2020, which was only 38 more than in 2019. Additionally, there were over 100,000 sales. As of the recording of this video, there are 5,422 active listings on the market. To put that into perspective, there are 5,556 broker offices in our marketplace, with each brokerage averaging about eight agents. Basically, there’s only one listing for every eight agents. That’s a pretty small amount of inventory.
Last December, Arizona ranked third in the nation in terms of population growth (behind just Texas and Florida), and most of the people moving into our state were from California. So if you’re a buyer, you have to be ready to jump on listings quickly. Homes that come on the market typically go under contract in just a few days.
On the seller side, we saw a 15.5% year-over-year median home price increase in 2020, and the median rental rate increased nearly 13%. For example, the average 2019 rental cost $1,550 per month. In 2020, that jumped to $1,750. With mortgage rates as low as they are, people are buying more and more investment properties, and with so many people moving here, it’s a great time to sell.
At some point in time, these price increases will slow down, and with potential interest rate hikes on the horizon, affordability might drop a bit too. For these reasons, we may see the Phoenix market settle down, but 2021 is still predicted to be another great year for sellers. There’s still a significant lack of inventory, so if you have a house to sell, 2021 will likely treat you very well.
Whether you’re buying or selling in 2021, call or email us anytime and we’d love to help guide you. If you have any other real estate questions, feel free to reach out to us as well. We look forward to hearing from you.
